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The real best of Van Morrison – your help, please

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The glaring lack of many works by The Man on Spotify sent me back to iTunes recently, in the hope of adding to my existing “best of”, assembled a good 10 years ago.

Unfortunately, he’s pretty unrepresented on there as well these days, so I’ve spent the last week listening to the further reaches of his back catalogue and ripping the odd find to iTunes.

So, now my best of is a good 50 songs long, covering as many of the veteran R&B grump’s Caledonian soul stompers, Celtic reveries and metaphysical musings as I could find.

But it’s too late to stop now. I fear there must be some deep cuts that I’ve missed. Or perhaps you could help me rearrange the running order so that the GLW doesn’t insist that I turn it off whenever we get into the more “difficult” likes of Rave On, John Donne. Maybe some of his recent records are under-represented (The Healing Game seems quite good).

So, here’s my work in progress. What more needs to be done? (I’m assuming it won’t be improved by any of the forthcoming duets with Hucknall and the like). Strangely, the Guardian’s music site hasn’t covered this topic. Stereogum has rated his albums (and rather weirdly at that), and the Telegraph his 25 best tracks.

But never mind Stereogum and the Telegraph. What comprises the Massive’s best of Van?

Brown Eyed Girl
Domino
Bright Side Of the Road
Full Force Gale
Moondance
Glad Tidings
Gypsy
Wild Night
Heavy Connection
Flamingos Fly
And The Healing Has Begun
And It Stoned Me
(Straight To Your Heart) Like A Cannonball
Sweet Thing
The Way Young Lovers
Into the Mystic
Bulbs
Raglan Road
Why Must I Always Explain?
Streets Of Arklow
You Don’t Pull No Punches
The Mystery
Orangefield
Have I Told You Lately
A Town Called Paradise
Summertime in England
Redwood Tree
Snow in San Anselmo
Haunts of Ancient Peace
Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart II
In The Garden
Dweller On the Threshold
Rave On John Donne
Coney Island
In The Days Before Rock’n’Roll
Wavelength
Call Me Up In Dreamland
Real Real Gone
Jackie Wilson Said
Precious Time
Days Like This
Ivory Tower
Caravan
The Great Deception
Madame George
The Street Only Knew Your Name
Street Choir
Hard Nose the Highway
Tupelo Honey
Saint Dominic’s Preview
Enlightenment

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Comments

  1. Gotta have “Kingdom Hall”.

    Then there’s “Natalia” and “Take It Where You Find It”, and that’s just the Wavelength tracks.

    If I were you I’d just buy the whole damn catalogue and be done with it.

  2. What no Astral weeks? Also love Cul de Sac and Listen to the Lion, and Take me back off of Hymns to the silence. But seriously what is Van up to? You can’t seem to buy anything of his other than Astral Weeks and Moondance, at least not in new editions. They’re all expensive old CD editions or second hand, and pretty much nothing on download either. Does he not need the money or what? I really wanted to get Hymns and ended up borrowing it off a friend and ripping it. I had the money ready Van, why do you not put these records out any more!

  4. Ballerina
    On Hyndford Street
    Listen To The Lion
    Celtic Swing
    A Sense Of Wonder
    Queen Of The Slipstream
    Celtic New Year
    Carrying A Torch
    Irish Heartbeat (Chieftains version)
    Crazy Love

    …I may be back.

  5. You must have On Hyndford Street on the playlist. Also Queen of the Slipstream. I know there are people on here who dismiss his later stuff entirely – they are wring – Magic Time and Back on Top for example are both great albums . Try Just like Greta from the first of these two.

  6. Black Type, you beat me to it with Hyndford St and Slipstream – I nearly suggested Carrying a Torch too. Forget Astral Weeks Hymns to the Silence is my favourite Van album.

  7. Tupelo Honey’s there – just before St Dom’s. But thanks for these other suggestions. I’m not over keen on Wonderful Remark but intrigued that there’s a folkier version.

    But yes: what is he doing with the downloads? I can buy about ten takes of Caravan and every iteration of the Bang Masters but can’t get hold of Hard Nose The Highway.

  9. He’s one of a select few where I have just gone to i-tunes and cherry picked, REM and Jackie Leven being the others. Every LP has grace, and many have dis-grace, but he has been so prolific as to have hours of joy. I can’t tell you your choices, just get £30 credit (to start with) and delve

  10. Ah Jackie Leven. For me a bigger talent than Van in many ways. And an engaging personality. Sadly missed.
    Single Father would be a Desert Island disc no question.

  13. Much as I love Mr Leven, and I love Mr Leven, to claim he is “better” than Van is just dumb. Van’s been coasting for about 20 years now but is still capable of churning out a masterpiece or two on every album.
    Oh, Healing Game is almost as good as Wavelength which is almost as good as Veedon Fleece which is almost as good as Too Late to Stop Now which is almost as good as……

    • Obviously I must be dumb because I have an opinion contrary to yours? I love Van and Jackie but Jackie edges it for me for a number of reasons. Firstly lyrically he is much more articulate. Secondly his songs are more varied and cover a wider subject matter than ‘the music industry is shit and wasn’t it grand where I used to live?’
      Thirdly he had a sense of humour.
      The musical arrangements of Van’s songs are what make them, more so than the words or his voice. A great artist, of that there is no doubt. However Jackie was unique and not recognised in the way he should have been.

      • Jackie Leven was a genius and a fantastic human being. His music moved me like no other and man I`ve listened to many and much beautiful music. Jackie`s body of work compares with any male artist alive and passed.

        Here I am talking about ME, we all have our preferences and we are right, everyone else is wrong.

    • “The kids out on the street collecting bottle-tops” is enough alone to merit a higher plancing. Never mind the rest of those beautiful lyrics:

      Down on Cyprus Avenue
      With a childlike vision leaping into view
      Clicking, clacking of the high heeled shoe
      Ford & Fitzroy, Madame George
      Marching with the soldier boy behind
      He’s much older with hat on drinking wine
      And that smell of sweet perfume comes drifting through
      The cool night air like Shalimar
      And outside they’re making all the stops
      The kids out in the street collecting bottle-tops
      Gone for cigarettes and matches in the shops
      Happy taken Madame George
      That’s when you fall
      Whoa, that’s when you fall
      Yeah, that’s when you fall
      When you fall into a trance
      A sitting on a sofa playing games of chance
      With your folded arms and history books you glance
      Into the eyes of Madame George
      And you think you found the bag
      You’re getting weaker and your knees begin to sag
      In the corner playing dominoes in drag
      The one and only Madame George
      And then from outside the frosty window raps
      She jumps up and says Lord have mercy I think it’s the cops
      And immediately drops everything she gots
      Down into the street below
      And you know you gotta go
      On that train from Dublin up to Sandy Row
      Throwing pennies at the bridges down below
      And the rain, hail, sleet, and snow
      Say goodbye to Madame George
      Dry your eye for Madame George
      Wonder why for Madame George
      And as you leave, the room is filled with music, laughing, music,
      dancing, music all around the room
      And all the little boys come around, walking away from it all
      So cold
      And as you’re about to leave
      She jumps up and says Hey love, you forgot your gloves
      And the gloves to love to love the gloves…
      To say goodbye to Madame George
      Dry your eye for Madame George
      Wonder why for Madame George
      Dry your eyes for Madame George
      Say goodbye in the wind and the rain on the back street
      In the backstreet, in the back street
      Say goodbye to Madame George
      In the backstreet, in the back street, in the back street
      Down home, down home in the back street
      Gotta go
      Say goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
      Dry your eye your eye your eye your eye your eye…
      Say goodbye to Madame George
      And the loves to love to love the love
      Say goodbye
      Oooooo
      Mmmmmmm
      Say goodbye goodbye goodbye goodbye to Madame George
      Dry your eye for Madame George
      Wonder why for Madame George
      The love’s to love the love’s to love the love’s to love…
      Say goodbye, goodbye
      Get on the train
      Get on the train, the train, the train…
      This is the train, this is the train…
      Whoa, say goodbye, goodbye….
      Get on the train, get on the train…

  16. It’s a good list. Here are some more (apologies if some are already on your list)..

    The best post 90s albums for me are The Healing Game and Down the Road. Agree about Hymns to the Silence which is superb. And, like everyone else I am baffled that the availability of Morrison’s material is by some distance the worst of any major artist.

    Cypress Avenue
    Ballerina
    Street Choir
    Old Old Woodstock
    Listen to the Lion
    Cul de sac
    Take it where you find it
    Cleaning Windows
    Vanlose Stairway
    Cry for Home
    Ivory Tower
    Queen of the Slipstream
    I’m tired Joey Boy
    Enlightenment
    Hymns to the Silence
    Carrying a Torch
    Rough God Goes Riding
    The Healing Game
    Sometimes we Cry
    Down the Road
    Fast Train
    Just Like Greta
    The Lion This Time
    If in Money we Trust

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